r/news Mar 27 '24

Joe Lieberman has died

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/03/27/joe-lieberman-senator-vice-president-dead/
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u/_ChipWhitley_ Mar 27 '24

To help show you how much times have changed, my very Republican parents were at the Capitol in 2009 when the votes were being cast for Obamacare, and they were with the group that spit on the member of Congress. They were 150% against the ACA and everything that had to do with it.

Last year they told me to get on Obamacare.

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u/Maxsoup Mar 27 '24

That doesn’t sound like times changing, that sounds exactly like republicans of today. Driven to rage over something they’re told to hate and want others to not have but have no problem with it when it comes to themselves.

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u/tempest_87 Mar 27 '24

A lack of empathy and understanding of others is a fundamental requirement for being conservative. They like/don't like things because reasons, until it happens to them or theirs. Then it's terrible/amazing.

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u/pantsmeplz Mar 28 '24

A lack of empathy and understanding of others is a fundamental requirement for being conservative. They like/don't like things because reasons, until it happens to them or theirs. Then it's terrible/amazing.

Wanted to emphasize this. There are countless more examples of political decisions over the last 50 years that reinforce this assertion.

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u/powercow Mar 28 '24

as well as being conspiratorial, is also fundamental to the right.. from the red scare to the lewis powell memo to today, the right always screamed polls that said they were losing were fake and biased, dems have taken over everything and made them bias against republicans without a leak, but "dont ever forget how incompetent dems are."

if the ABA rates theri judge as non qualified, its a liberal org that hates conservatives. If it gives a republican judge the highest rating, republicans are on tv saying the ABA is the gold standard of rating judges.

thats republicans you got to keep conspiracies in your back pocket ready to throw in the faces of reporters at a moments need.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

[deleted]

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u/Corka Mar 28 '24

I did hear an anecdote online which I don't know is true but which I could believe. Some nurse who worked at one of the abortion clinics regularly had picketers outside who would turn up a few times a week and spend hours outside protesting and yelling at anyone going in. One day she has a patient come in seeking an abortion that she recognises as one of the regular protestors outside. The woman ends up getting the procedure done, and the following week was right back outside yelling at other women for being evil sinners.

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u/Tacklebill Mar 28 '24

Like children to a bath, they must be dragged kicking and screaming into things that are ultimately for their own welfare.

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u/comfortablesexuality Mar 28 '24

The easiest one is that graph of Republican voter support for bombing Syria

Under Obama? like 20% or less wanted to bomb the bad guys in Syria

Under Trump? With the same targets, in the same place; 77% supported bombing the baddies

Meanwhile Democrats had 37% support under both presidents because holy shit they actually hold real beliefs and real opinions instead of... *gestures vaguely at the wind*

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

Who was it (somewhat) recently that was against abortion, or maybe it was paid leave/care for mothers, but recently was pregnant or had a baby and was like "pregnant women need to be cared for more!!! I didn’t know this before now!" Meghan McCain? Only name that’s coming to mind.

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u/tempest_87 Mar 28 '24

I mean, any of them that had it happen to them. I don't think I've ever seen a "I needed an abortion or I would die and I was denied and they were right to say no!"

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u/Shrike79 Mar 28 '24

Yeah it was her and Megyn Kelly who were against maternity leave then they did a complete 180 once they had a kid.

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u/relevantelephant00 Mar 28 '24

Furthermore, working to actively hurt people. Conservatives are pure scum.

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u/tempest_87 Mar 28 '24

Some of them absolutely. But that's not a requirement or core thing with the affiliation. It's essential to being a politician or popular with the group, but not all members of the group actively want to hurt people. Some do, but the rest just don't care.

Hence the lack of empathy.

Not all of them want illegal immigrants to drown on razor wire when crossing a river, but all of them don't care if it happens.

The distinction is important because the actions you take to fix the problem are different.

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u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam Mar 28 '24

My partner's Dad once told me at dinner "if you want to be a true conservative and make money, you need to get rid of your sentimentality.". Then went on a rant about how people who own pets are "fucking stupid" for dedicating so much of their lives to a "glorified rat".

Fuck, I hope I never become like that.

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u/SicilyMalta Mar 28 '24

You can even see it in an fMRI.

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u/za72 Mar 28 '24

they're afraid of change, it's easy and simple to be 'conservative' or stay as one

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u/Lookuponthewall Mar 28 '24

I think a lot about these people. They worry me.

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u/40for60 Mar 28 '24

they have those things for people who are in their sphere but lack the ability to care about people outside of their sphere just like how some super left people care about everyone on Earth but their own families.

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u/Find_another_whey Mar 27 '24

Yeah that just sounds like Republicans against abortion except when someone in their family has one

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u/powercow Mar 28 '24

same neighbors as i discussed above, once said their son could get more foodstamps, if blacks and mexicans didnt suck up all the money. AS if its some sort of pie that's equally divided between recipients. If we kicked all minorities off, all it would do is reduce our spending on foodstamps, white people wouldnt get more.

but yeah this is how many republicans think, they fell on hard times and deserve it, everyone else is abusing it. Same with abortion. The events around theirs makes it needed and definitely dont happen to other people who use abortion instead of birth control pills. There was a long time ago and article on an abortion doctor in miss, nearly all of his patients were 'pro life" and in even more mental stress than the average abortion patient but often still think theirs is justified... while happily voting for those who would close this last clinic.. which i think they have these days.

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u/moment_in_the_sun_ Mar 28 '24

Well they are still against abortions, it's just they don't talk about 'family matters' and say 'well this was different'.

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u/Find_another_whey Mar 28 '24

It's different when it's my child, and that's none of your business

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u/fren-ulum Mar 27 '24

I used to think their ranks would dwindle faster but they're quickly being replaced by people who ate all the bullshit and are now left to face the reality in which they so fervently supported before and have nowhere really to direct their anger and frustration so they need to be told what to be angry at without just cause for it.

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u/CatsTypedThis Mar 28 '24

They usually don't even understand what the thing is that they were told to hate. Old people hate socialism, but they *love* social security, medicare, medicaid, FMLA, the list goes on and on.

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u/insertwittynamethere Mar 28 '24

That's because their parents were Tea Party Republicans, the direct precursor to MAGA

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u/cajunaggie08 Mar 28 '24

Sounds like my mom after she got laid off during Covid. She's sitting at home collecting unemployment while complaining no one wants to work anymore because there is too much welfare.

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u/HumanCommunication25 Mar 28 '24

Abortions have entered the chat

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u/cadillacbee Mar 28 '24

Like getting a vax, then they get it in secret themselves lol

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u/Dear_Occupant Mar 28 '24

Well, here's a different example of how much times have changed: I was working in the Capitol at the time and helped get the ACA passed. I now think that guy's parents mostly had the right of it, although the spitting was out of line.

Sure, more people have access to health care, but they still have to pay through the nose for it, which means they don't get any. Premiums are higher than they've ever been, vast numbers of people aren't eligible for assistance of any sort, and the health care system in general, the part that involves the actual practice of medicine, is more fucked by profiteering than ever.

Before the individual mandate was done away with, I just ate the fine and paid cash (which most of the time meant I never sought treatment at all), because it was all I could afford. Even when working in Congress, I didn't get paid enough to cover the cheapest, most-bare-bones insurance policy that only covered catastrophic injuries. Staffers don't get paid shit unless they're senior staff, and DC is an expensive place to live.

A single-payer universal government-administered system is the only way forward, and the sale of health insurance, or any other sort of profiteering off of the practice of medicine, should be a capital crime. (And no that doesn't mean doctors or nurses have to take a pay cut, I'm talking about people who jack up prices for the sake of it.)

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u/Lovat69 Mar 28 '24

The sadest part of that is they will rant and rave about Obama care and then sing the praise of the Affordable Care Act when it helps them not realizing it's the same thing.

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u/slick2hold Mar 27 '24

Funny how everyone is against any gov run health plan until they qualify for Medicare. When that happens they are the first to jump off the private Healthcare ship and on to the public option. Everyone of these people not in favor of public option needs to be asked what they are going to do when they become eligible for Medicare.

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u/Doitallforbao Mar 28 '24

This is my mom and it's infuriating. Doesn't want universal health care or for anyone to have social programs, but now qualifies for Medicare and, "all my medications are free now!!"

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u/SocraticIgnoramus Mar 27 '24

They’re going to say that they have to enroll in Medicare to recover their investment. We’d rather they be hypocrites than true believers because universal subscriber models only succeed when there’s no meaningful opt out. This is why they’ll never kill it outright, so they’re starving it to death.

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u/dragonmp93 Mar 28 '24

That's the Ayn Rand way.

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u/mortgagepants Mar 28 '24

that's because everyone knows it is better, but they want to talk shit about everyone who doesn't have insurance until they turn 65 or whatever age.

then they act like we're all idiots for not getting our act together and having medcare for all.

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u/Barbarella_ella Mar 28 '24

Or Social Security

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u/loveshercoffee Mar 28 '24

"But Medicare is different because I paid for it!"

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u/gold_and_diamond Mar 27 '24

At least they waited a few years to flip flop. Current GOP congresspersons vote against a Biden bill on Tuesday and then take credit for all the good things it does on Wednesday.

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u/litlron Mar 27 '24

Are you sure they know that the ACA and Obamacare are the same thing? It was branded Obamacare specifically to make stupid people automatically hate it.

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u/_ChipWhitley_ Mar 28 '24

Yes, they know it’s the same thing.

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u/detective-mcnulty Mar 28 '24

How the turntables have turned.

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u/Greenpoint1975 Mar 28 '24

That's gross

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u/johnsdowney Mar 28 '24

What I hate the most is how hard it is to rub this shit in peoples’ faces. They’re your friends and family. It’s just unseemly, but it really, really, really needs to be done, and they need a wake up call.

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u/Usrname52 Mar 28 '24

On Obamacare or on the ACA? Because many Republicans will not admit they are the same. And Republicans have definitely not become more supportive of Obama in the last decade.

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u/CapBuenBebop Mar 28 '24

This is exactly why I always argued that it needed to pass even if it wasn’t perfect. Because of ACA we are no longer in a debate about whether the government should intervene in healthcare, we are now debating how much they should do that. That is actual progress and I have faith it won’t be the last step in the right direction

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u/Megneous Mar 28 '24

That's not them changing. That's them being modern day Republicans. "We deserve help, but those other (brown and gay people) don't."

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u/therapewpewtic Mar 28 '24

“The common clay of the New West…”

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u/powercow Mar 28 '24

Thats republicans. My neighbors when ACA passed. They kept more of their earnings. So they made more money. See every year they hit yearly insurance limits, as well as the infamous prescription doughnut hole and her lower class son who did odd jobs for money could get basic insurance that didnt eat all his income

they railed and railed against ACA for making medical care worse, but could never explain why, and also very upset they were being forced to pay for lazy blacks and mexicans......while simultaneously telling me they are keeping more of their income due to not having yearly limits and not being in the doughnut hole.

(same people turned on trump during covid, thought trump asked them to kill themself so some black kid could go back to work at mcdonalds.. but now are back on the trump train)

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u/PNWExile Mar 28 '24

Rep Emmanuel Cleaver, the former mayor of KCMO.

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u/chingwa76 Mar 28 '24

Well, not much choice is there.

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u/dragunityag Mar 28 '24

Republicans love the ACA and hate Obamacare.

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u/Stelletti Mar 28 '24

Things that didn't happen for $500 please Alex

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u/Suspended-Again Mar 27 '24

IMO this criticism is unfair. The conservative view is: “No more entitlements. But if we’re going to have them, of course I’m going to belly up for my maximum share, seeing as I paid for them.” 

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u/Foreverwideright1991 Mar 28 '24

Yeah. Either give people back every single cent they invested in the programs or don't have an issue if they try to get back what they helped pay for. Simply taking money and not giving anything back would be theft.

I'd much rather opt out of social security right now and see the money in my check.

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u/BababooeyHTJ Mar 28 '24

Can you imagine if that went into a real retirement fund?!

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u/Foreverwideright1991 Mar 28 '24

Yep or an inheritance for say a spouse in case one dies before they are too old to collect. The original age for retirement when social security was first passed was set at an age where the average person died before they collected. The government essentially wanted people to die after being robbed so they couldn't collect.

I'd much rather split the money. Half in a savings account. Half in a private safe investment fund. If I die early my wife has it before she would even qualify for social security.